Evanston City Council members have delayed till May consideration of a plan to help town’s unhoused inhabitants, including addressing an encampment on the Howard Street viaduct on town’s far south aspect.
After issues from colleagues, Council Member Devon Reid (eighth Ward) on Monday finally moved that his $500,000 request be tabled till May 28, in hopes of taking a extra complete method then. The council authorized tabling the plan by a 6-zero vote.
Reid’s proposal seeks $200,000 to fund help companies for District 65 college students going through or prone to homelessness, and one other $300,000 to go to town’s Health & Human Services Department to handle encampments at Howard Street and in downtown.
Reid stated the funding would help “interventions that can make a real difference in the public safety, attractiveness of public transit in the city of Evanston and Howard Street.”
The $500,000 request initially was a part of a $1.75 million package that included $1.25 million for Connections for the Homeless, however Reid stated he eliminated the Connections funding from his request as a result of there was “more work to be done” on that part.
Memo: ‘Illicit drug use’ at Howard website
Reid called for a plan final yr to handle the encampments final summer time, placing council members on discover that 15 to 20 unhoused folks, some with extreme substance abuse points, had fashioned an encampment on the Evanston aspect of Howard Street, throughout from the CTA transit station, on the viaduct.
A metropolis outreach crew now visits the viaduct each day, “including weekends, to speak to the people who are spending time there,” wrote Ike Ogbo, town’s Director of Health and Human Services, in a memo to the council.
“These individuals do not live in the space but choose to spend time there. During engagement with visitors to the specific area, no one will take ownership of the collection of items in the space,” he wrote. “The outreach crew has discovered proof that not solely is there illicit drug use within the area, however many discover it to be a spot to ‘hang out.’
“There have been microwaves, coffee pots, and other items plugged into the outlet on the property of the CTA, making the space even more comfortable for additional visitors who want to dwell for longer periods of time. In addition to drug use, visitors commune in this area to play music, eat food and enjoy each other’s company in a conveniently sheltered space from the rain and cold winds.”
Homelessness has been on the rise within the United States, rising 6% since 2017, Ogbo stated, citing a National Alliance to End Homelessness report. “Evanston is not insusceptible to homelessness,” he wrote, noting that there have been a number of different intermittent encampments recognized at completely different places within the metropolis.
Regular complaints from residents
During Monday’s dialogue, Reid instructed council members that he fields calls “fairly regularly” from residents in each Evanston and Chicago in regards to the encampment subject. He stated one of many calls directed his method from Chicago’s 49th Ward was from an older lady.
“And the woman shared with me that she was afraid to get off on the Paulina side of the [Howard Street CTA “L”] platform, which is near her residence, as a result of she fears as an aged lady she might be a goal for being mugged or one thing else,” Reid instructed council members.
He stated when he made his preliminary proposal for funding final yr his purpose was to have cash allotted within the metropolis’s 2024 finances to handle the issue. That didn’t occur, nonetheless. He stated that proposal included a dedication for 30 slots of drug remedy. “That is probably not on the table now,” he stated.
He instructed council members, “I truly believe that our Health and Human Services Department – and really in conjunction with our Parks and Recreation Department, which runs the city’s outreach team – need this additional funding to be able to address the situation in a multitude of ways.”
Funding for District 65, he stated, “will allow us to take some of the burden off the Health Department” workers, who’ve been working with the district to seek out housing for folks, “so this will make our own operations more efficient.”
“As a former District 65 student who faced homelessness myself,” he added after the assembly, “it [the school support] is really close to my heart.”
Nieuwsma: At some level, will want ‘robust’ response
In dialogue, various council members stated they shared a few of Reid’s issues however wished a extra complete plan earlier than approving any funding.
Council Member Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th Ward) acknowledged “that not only our community, but our country, has a problem with homelessness.” Until now, he stated, Evanston has managed to deal with the issue with out dipping an excessive amount of into town’s personal funds, leveraging state, county and federal cash.
At some level, although, he stated, “it will … demand an Evanston response, using Evanston money in a more robust way.”
“I want to make sure that not if, but when we get to that point, we are doing so in a thoughtful and proactive, strategic manner in collaboration with all the community stakeholders that are involved in dealing with with these issues,” he stated.
In the meantime, Nieuwsma stated, various initiatives are on their strategy to the council, addressing various factors in homelessness. He talked about an $810,000 rental assistance program that grew out of the participatory budgeting course of and a $400,000 allocation for town’s community responder program, which can ship educated unarmed civilians to reply some 911 calls and try to resolve points.
“Coming to us very shortly will be a recommendation from HCDC [the city’s Housing and Community Development Committee] to invest a million dollars of federal money in the Margarita Inn,” he stated, referring to town’s first everlasting homeless shelter, at 1566 Oak Ave., in his ward. “So we are taking some strategic and thoughtful approaches here,” he stated.
Reid careworn the necessity for urgency, noting the dialog across the subject has been happening near a yr, and “I’ve got people in my ward who are afraid to take the train,” he stated, referring to the encampment outdoors the Howard CTA station.
Harris: City wants to fulfill with District 65
Council Member Krissie Harris (2nd Ward) argued that the scenario at Howard isn’t strictly a homelessness subject. Rather, “it’s a drug area,” she maintained. “The individuals are handed out, passing out. …
“Most of these people have somewhere to be,” she stated. “They don’t want to be there, because they can’t engage in the behavior that they have there [on Howard Street].”
She recalled an try to convey Peer Services, a longtime habit remedy heart in Evanston, to the realm “to get service to these outside residents.”
But you “can’t make anybody want to get help until they want to get help,” she stated to council members. “ So I’m not comfortable without a plan. We are short on money. Our government, scarily, has become a social service agency of Evanston, not a government. And we’ve got to figure that out.”
District 65 is town’s greatest taxing physique, Harris famous. So in determining a plan, “we [the city and District 65] need to sit at a table and do that [arrive at a solution] collectively.”
Reid: Group at spot 24 hours a day
Council Member Bobby Burns (fifth Ward) stated whether or not the problem is tabled or not, he want to see a proposal tailor-made to handle the scenario at Howard Street. “I’m not prepared to support anything for District 65 at this point,” he stated. “I’m not prepared to support, honestly even anything for the city, until we have a conversation about how we want to go about this.”
Council Member Clare Kelly (1st Ward), in whose downtown ward small encampments have sprung up now and again, additionally stated a broader plan ought to be thought-about. “I think we need measurables,” she stated. “How do we measure success? What are the targeted outcomes? There’s just so much more involved. I do think this is something that we desperately do need to address.”
Reid stated he acknowledged that medicine are a difficulty, mentioning it in his name for motion to the council final yr. He stated he understood Harris’ competition that a number of the people on the Howard Street encampment have their very own housing, however estimated that it’s a small quantity. If extra did have housing, defined later, it might be simpler for town to maneuver them from their present spot, based mostly on a current Chicago consent decree.
As issues stand now, he instructed council members, the folks at Howard are there around the clock. “They have gone there late at night and they’re still there early in the morning,” he stated. “So whether they’re homeless or not, they’re there, seeming, 24 hours a day.”
He stated town would want to develop alternate options, including offering housing, if officers are to maneuver them.
Memo outlines coordinated method
Ogbo reported in his memo that various conferences with service suppliers have been held to trend a technique to handle the Howard encampment and different intermittent metropolis encampments. After the problem arose in July 2023, he wrote, Reid “convened and organized meetings with City staff and multiple organizations, including Peer Services, Connections for the Homeless, the CTA, Chicago’s 49th Ward Alderman’s Office, and the City of Chicago Department of Family Support Services. The gathering aimed to coordinate efforts to deliver necessary aid to the unhoused population at the Howard viaduct.”
Ogbo stated the “fundamental elements of this coordinated approach” being thought-about embody:
- “Securing and funding housing fast response occasions.
- Offering drug remedy and medicine.
- Providing case administration companies.
- Engaging public security choices for individuals who decline help.
- Activating areas the place massive encampments have beforehand existed.
- Providing enough lighting within the neighborhood for safety and security functions.”
“The key to amply succeeding in this venture is matching people to affordable, appropriate, and stable housing, including services for health care (mental health and substance abuse treatment), employment, and childcare services,” Ogbo wrote.
“Evanston has limited affordable units and rising rents, which will be challenging to achieve without having a significant affordable housing program to address the housing needs. It requires the coordination of a service system not only to provide housing but also to support long-term housing stability and the creation of enough permanent housing to meet the demand,” he concluded.
Connections for the Homeless, as “the professionals in the field,” would lead the $1.25 million portion of the challenge that wasn’t a part of the dialogue Monday evening – and would sort out the rising wants of Evanston’s unhoused inhabitants, Ogbo’s memo stated.
The program drawn up would handle not solely the Howard encampment however the situations that may result in different encampments sooner or later, Ogbo’s memo stated.
